Bids to go out for downtown work

Published 6:04 pm, Monday, February 20, 2012

NEW MILFORD -- Making the village center in New Milford more pedestrian friendly has long been a goal of business owners and town officials.

Now that goal is coming one step closer. Roadwork on the west side of Main Street along the Village Green is expected to start in April. The project has been planned since 2009.

The work will be paid for with a $200,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant recently received from the state and $112,000 previously set aside in the Public Works Department budget for the project.

"The project will enhance the downtown, making it more pedestrian friendly," Mike Zarba, Public Works director, said Thursday. "The engineering on the project is completed and we have state approval to put the project out to bid."

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Main Street project
BIDS TO GO OUT: By Friday.
WORK TO BEGIN: Mid- or late April.
EXPECTED COMPLETION: By Memorial Day.

A call for bids will be issued by Friday, with work planned to start by mid- or late April, Zarba said. It is anticipated it will be completed by Memorial Day.

Some 1,400 feet of western Main Street will be reconstructed and stabilized. Raised crosswalks --constructed in a ramp-style with flat platform area on top -- will be installed at three crosswalks to the Green -- at the Cramer & Anderson law firm and the post office and just before the Bank Street intersection, Zarba said.

"These are designed to keep speed down in the middle of town, in order to keep pedestrians safe," he said. "They act like speed bumps to calm traffic."

New sidewalks are included in the project. All of the asphalt walkways on the Green will be switched to concrete sidewalks.

At the very north end of the Green, a 40-foot piece of concrete sidewalk will be added to connect the handicapped curb cuts that now exist on the west side at Bank of America and at the Moots & Pellegrini law firm on the east.

A decorative street light matching those already on the Green will be added by that sidewalk, Zarba said.